One of the frequent questions asked during the youth conference is who married Cain and how they are related? Is bible wrong in accepting marriage within the family?
Before answering this question lets look at some more examples of marriages that happened in the bible, which is not normal in our times.
Abraham lied to Pharaoh and Abimelek about his relationship with Sarah. In both cases, he was scared and lied that he is Sarah’s brother. In Gen 20:12 he explains to Abimelek, Sarah is his half-sister i.e both are from same father but from a different mother.
Nahor married Milkah, daughter of Haran. Haran, Abraham, and Nahor were brothers. Later on, Isaac married Sarah, who is a grandchild to Abraham (w.r.t Nahor) and great-grandchild (w.r.t Milkah).
Amram, father of Moses married his father’s sister (Exodus 6:20)
The biblical laws were not created until the time of Exodus. We can read the laws for marriages in Leviticus 18.
Before exodus from Egypt, Israelite’s followed local culture. They lived as nomads till they reached promised land and followed local custom and culture without any written code for the law. During the same time Babylonians, Nuzi, Sumerian and Egyptians had exhaustive laws. The laws of famous Hammurabi (1750 BC) were detailed with clear punishment for each offense. None of these laws goes against marriage relationship described in the Bible and fully compliant to the local laws.
Are we trying to justify this with pagan laws of Babylonians, Sumerians and others? The answer is no. There was a period of time God allowed the relationship and stopped it before he brought Israelite’s to the promised land. Leviticus 18:1-4 clearly says Israelite’s must leave behind their existing culture. The old practice must end and obedience to God’s laws takes precedence over everything. Leviticus 18 goes on and defines the new code of conduct.
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